Graywater diverter vessel assembly

ABSTRACT

A graywater diverter vessel assembly (as shown in FIG.  2 ) comprises a cylindrical side vessel  4  and valve diversion assembly  1, 2, 16.  The device fits onto a vertical wastewater pipe  9,  wherein a user can by closing the valve  1,  divert graywater to upflow into the cylindrical side vessel  4  and pass through the vessel&#39;s removable mesh filter  5  and outflow point  7  for reuse, or alternatively by opening the valve permit graywater to flow downward through the valve diversion assembly and sewer or onsite wastewater system. The cylindrical side vessel has an over-flow outlet  8  so graywater can overflow and bypass the closed valve and flow directly to the sewer or onsite wastewater system in the event that the free outflow of graywater is restricted from either clogging of the mesh filter or other blockage, without restricting or limiting the continued normal free outflow of graywater from the building&#39;s plumbing fixtures.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims a priority from Patent Application Number2002100710, titled “Greywater Diverter Vessel Assembly” filed inAustralia on Aug. 22, 2002 and a certified copy of the Provisionalspecification accompanies this Utility Patent Application.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[0002] “Not Applicable”

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

[0003] There is support for conservation of quality drinking waterresources, whilst disposal of society's wastewater requires theprovision of wastewater treatment and disposal systems, the size andcost of which to construct, maintain and operate is affected by a numberof factors including the volume of wastewater to be treated and disposedof.

[0004] Graywater (spelt greywater in Australia) is generally consideredto be those components of domestic wastewater that have originated fromthe laundry, bath, shower and hand wash basins. Whilst these streams ofwastewater contribute significantly to the total wastewater volume, theycontribute little to the organic content of wastewater and thus needonly minimal treatment for garden irrigation. However, as untreatedgraywater is wastewater which contains suspended organic material andthe same micro-organisms as found in toilet waste, albeit in lowerconcentration and numbers, the regulators of plumbing and healthstandards ensure graywater reuse and the associated plumbing works mustoccur only in an acceptable manner.

[0005] A number of graywater reuse systems and products have previouslybeen developed and promoted, but these have not been particularlysuccessful or accepted because they either:

[0006] could not satisfy the established standards demanded by theregulators of plumbing and health law and codes to be approved, and weretypically illegitimate ad-hock plumbing type configurations consistingof a variety of components including valves connected to flexible hoses,rubber funnels, cloth/stocking filter bags, modified water barrels, andother temporary type components and most provided little or nocontingency against failure and human exposure to the graywater or sewergases, or;

[0007] are acceptable to regulators but are too expensive for domesticusers to purchase, operate and maintain compared to the value of watersavings, and are typically large below ground treatment tank systemsconsisting of septic tanks, aerobic treatment systems, sand filtrationsystems or other treatment type systems that incorporate disinfection,pumps to lift the water back to the surface, failure alarms, seweranti-backflow fittings and other components which generally addsignificantly to the overall cost and such systems generally requireongoing maintenance contracts to be entered into by users with licensedcontractors.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] This invention was developed to provide a miniature graywaterreuse plumbing product that is simple for users to maintain themselvesand passively operated, so graywater reuse could become economicallyviable whilst satisfying all of the plumbing and health requirements forwater conservation and to reduce the volume of wastewater requiringtreatment and disposal.

[0009] The graywater diverter vessel assembly fits onto a verticalwastewater pipe so a user can, by manually opening or closing a valve,divert graywater to flow into the accompanying cylindrical side vesseland pass through a removable mesh filter and outflow for reuse, oralternatively by opening the valve permit graywater to flow downwardthrough the open valve to the sewer or onsite wastewater system.

[0010] A graywater diverter vessel assembly is comprised of two mainfunctional parts, these being a cylindrical side vessel and valvediversion assembly.

[0011] The valve diversion assembly consists of a gate or similar valvefitted between two three-way wastewater pipe junctions so as to providetwo vertical inlet and outlet connection sockets for connecting onto avertical wastewater pipe, and two side wastewater pipe connections forconnection to the accompanying cylindrical side vessel.

[0012] The cylindrical vessel has a removable graywater mesh filterwhich is accessed via a removable gastight lid, three wastewater pipeconnection points protruding from the cylinder side consisting of agraywater in-flow point connected to the valve diversion assembly'supper side wastewater pipe connection socket and two out-flow wastewaterpipe connection points being a graywater over-flow point connected backto the valve diversion assembly's lower side wastewater pipe connectionsocket and a filtered graywater outlet for filtered graywater to flowout of the cylindrical vessel for irrigation or other reuse.

[0013] The valve diversion assembly's upper side branch wastewater pipeconnection to the side cylindrical vessel is such that graywater willnot flow through this connection when the valve is opened for graywaterto flow to the sewer or onsite wastewater system, and the cylindricalvessel's graywater over-flow wastewater pipe connection point ispositioned such that it is set away from the influence of graywaterflowing into the cylindrical vessel when the valve is closed.

[0014] The valve can be manually set to either the open or closedposition. When open, graywater flowing downward through the verticalwastewater pipe and valve diverter assembly will flow directly to thesewer or onsite wastewater system, and when closed the graywater isdiverted to flow into the cylindrical side vessel to be filtered forreuse.

[0015] Should the valve be closed for graywater reuse and the free flowof filtered graywater from the cylindrical vessel is restricted, becauseeither the removable graywater mesh filter is clogged or other failurein the reuse system, the graywater level within the cylindrical sidevessel will rise and overflow from the vessel and bypass the closedvalve to sewer or the onsite wastewater system without inhibiting thecontinued free flow of graywater from the building into the cylindricalvessel.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Having thus generally described the nature of the invention,reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, showing by wayof illustration a preferred embodiment thereof, and in which:

[0017]FIG. 1 is a top view of a graywater diverter vessel assembly.

[0018]FIG. 2 is a front view of the graywater diverter vessel assemblyon a vertical wastewater pipe with the internal vessel base and meshfilter shown in broken line.

[0019]FIG. 3 is a sliced through view from within looking at the frontsection of the graywater diverter vessel assembly as presented in FIG.2.

[0020]FIG. 4 is a side view of the removable graywater mesh filter.

[0021]FIG. 5 is a schematic plan showing an example of how the graywaterdiverter vessel assembly can be fitted onto the outside wall of abuilding.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0022] To facilitate a better understanding of the nature of theinvention the “Graywater Diverter Vessel Assembly” the invention will bedescribed in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings(FIGS. 1-5).

[0023] The graywater diverter vessel assembly incorporates a manuallyoperated push-pull 10 gate valve 1 to open or close the free flow ofgraywater through a vertical wastewater pipe 9. It operates such thatwhen the valve is pulled open, graywater will flow directly downwardsthrough the vertical wastewater pipe 9, the upper three-way wastewaterpipe junction 2, and the gate valve 1, and the lower three-waywastewater pipe junction 16, the lower section of the verticalwastewater pipe 9 and to the sewer or onsite wastewater system. When thegate valve 1 is pushed closed vertical flow of the graywater is blockedcausing it to flow from the vertical wastewater pipe 9 around and up the45 degree bend of the diverter valve assembly's top upper three wayjunction 2 to enter into the cylindrical vessel 4 via the in-flow pipeconnection point 3. Graywater then falls into the cylindrical vessel 4wherein it passes by gravity through a removable graywater mesh filter5, which said removable graywater mesh filter 5 is held in place by abracket 12, and the filtered graywater passes down onto the cylindricalvessel's sloped base 6 from where it flows out of the cylindrical vessel4 via the filtered graywater out-flow pipe connector point 7 forirrigation or similar reuse 15.

[0024] Should the free flow of graywater through and out of thecylindrical vessel 4 be blocked or restricted, by either clogging of theremovable graywater mesh filter 5 or blockage or failure within theirrigation or similar reuse line 15, such that filtered graywater cannot freely exit the cylindrical vessel 4 via the filtered graywaterout-flow pipe connector point 7, the continued in-flow of graywaterthrough the in-flow pipe connector point 3 will cause the graywaterlevel within the cylindrical vessel 4 to rise until that level reachesthe level of the over-flow pipe connection point 8 from where anyadditional in-flow of graywater through the in-flow pipe connectionpoint 3 shall immediately overflow back to sewer or the onsitewastewater system, via an over-flow return wastewater pipe 17 andwastewater pipe elbow connections 18, 19, three-way wastewater pipejunction 16 and the lower section of the vertical wastewater pipe 9.

[0025] A graywater diverter vessel assembly is designed to be installedabove ground into a vertical wastewater pipe 9 in a position so thegraywater in-flow point 3 and graywater over-flow point 8, of thecylindrical vessel 4, are set at a level lower than the lowest plumbingfixture water trap 14 connected to the graywater diverter vesselassembly and at a height above the sewer or onsite wastewater systemplumbing's overflow relief gully or disconnector trap 13 as prescribedby the statutory requirements of the relevant health authority, waterservices utility or other plumbing authority in a particular locationand overcome the need for any sewer anti-backflow device.

[0026] A graywater diverter vessel assembly has cylindrical vessel body4, three wastewater pipe connection points 8, 3, 7 closed base 6, meshfilter support bracket 12 and access lid 11 preferably manufactured fromsuitably moulded ultra-violet resistant PVC plastic components that areglued, screwed or welded together, and has a removable graywater meshfilter 5 preferably manufactured from stainless steel or other suitablecorrosion resistant material, and has two seals manufactured from rubberor similar material for use as the access lid's 11 gas seal and theremovable mesh filter's 5 outer rim water seal, whereas the remainder ofcomponents used to assemble the graywater diverter vessel assembly,including three-way wastewater pipe junctions 2, 16 and elbows 18, 19and gate valve 1, are readily available from approved wastewaterplumbing component suppliers and manufactured preferably andpredominantly of ultra-violet resistant PVC plastic components, so theymay be readily screwed and/or glued together with the cylindrical vessel4 to construct the graywater diverter vessel assembly.

[0027] The above described graywater diverter vessel assembly device canbe easily fitted to new or existing plumbing installations, as shown inFIG. 5, by cutting out a section of the existing vertical wastewaterpipe 9 and inserting the graywater diverter vessel assembly, and may beinstalled inside or outside a building.

[0028] The foregoing only describes one embodiment of the graywaterdiverter vessel assembly and modifications that are obvious to thoseskilled in the art may be made thereto without departing from the scopeof the invention. For example:

[0029] The graywater diverter vessel assembly device's cylindricalvessel 4 can be constructed in a modular form to allow installers theoption to vary which side of the diversion valve assembly 2, 1, 16 thecylindrical vessel 4 will assume and the direction that the filteredgraywater out-flow connection point 7 will assume.

[0030] The removable graywater mesh filter can be varied with use of adifferent filter medium or have a different mesh aperture, such as toprovide a larger size for passive or mechanical sub-soil trenchirrigation or a very small aperture size for irrigation by amechanically pressurised micro drip irrigation system, or alternativelyprovide no filter so it might be used simply as a graywater diverter toan external filtration or other treatment and irrigation method.

[0031] The device may be manufactured to any size to suit specificvertical wastewater pipes or flows or for use only as a graywaterdiverter.

[0032] The valve in the diversion valve assembly may take the form ofgate, ball, three-way or other suitable valve, so as to provide the samenumber of connections on the valve diversion assembly and providecontrol over the flow of graywater to the cylindrical vessel or sewerand provide a connection for overflow of graywater from the cylindricalvessel.

[0033] The circular vessel need not be cylindrical and may take anysuitable vessel shape consistent with its function described herein.

What I claim as my invention is:
 1. A graywater diverter vessel assemblyin accordance with this invention, is a device which comprises a sidevessel connected to a valve diversion assembly, and wherein the valvediversion assembly incorporates a valve and provides vertical inlet andoutlet connection sockets so the valve diversion assembly can beconnected into a vertical wastewater pipe and have two remaining sideconnection sockets for connection to the accompanying side vessel, andwherein the side vessel is closed except it has a removable gas tightaccess for servicing a removable graywater mesh filter and has threewastewater pipe connection socket points which include an uppergraywater in-flow connection point for connection to the valve diversionassembly's upper side wastewater pipe connection socket and two out-flowwastewater pipe connection points of which the first is the graywaterover-flow point for connection back to the valve diversion assembly'slower side wastewater pipe connection socket and situated lower than theside vessel's graywater inflow point and the second of the two outflowpoints is a filtered graywater outlet point located near the base of thevessel and below the removable graywater mesh filter for filteredgraywater to exit the vessel for reuse.
 2. A graywater diverter vesselassembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the valve diversion assembly'supper side branch wastewater pipe connection socket is such thatgraywater will not flow through the connection when graywater reuse isnot required and the valve is opened for graywater to flow to sewer orthe onsite wastewater system, and wherein the side vessel's graywateroverflow wastewater pipe connection point is positioned at a lower leveland to one side of the wastewater inflow pipe connection point such thatgraywater entering the vessel will not overflow back to the sewer exceptwhen a blockage restricts the intended free flow of graywater throughand out of the side vessel for reuse.
 3. A graywater diverter vesselassembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein it is installed into a verticalwastewater pipe above ground in a position so the graywater in-flow andover-flow connection points of the side vessel are set at a level lowerthan the water trap of the lowest plumbing fixture connected to thegraywater diverter vessel assembly and so the graywater overflowconnection point of the side vessel is at a height above the drainageplumbing system's overflow relief gully or disconnector trap to complywith prevailing plumbing rules.
 4. A graywater diverter vessel assemblyas claimed in claims 1-3 wherein the preferred embodiment has acylindrical side vessel with three wastewater pipe connection points,closed base, mesh filter bracket and access lid preferably manufacturedfrom suitably moulded ultra-violet resistant PVC or similar plasticcomponents that are glued, screwed or welded together, and has aremovable graywater mesh filter preferably manufactured from stainlesssteel or other suitable corrosion resistant material, and has two sealsmanufactured from rubber or similar material for use as the access lid'sgas seal and the removable graywater mesh filter's outer rim water seal,whereas, the remainder of components used to assemble the graywaterdiverter vessel assembly, including wastewater pipe and junctions andvalve are readily available from approved wastewater plumbing componentsuppliers and manufactured preferably and preferably made fromultra-violet resistant PVC or similar materials, so they may be readilyscrewed or glued together with the cylindrical vessel to construct thegraywater diverter vessel assembly device.
 5. A graywater divertervessel assembly substantially as herein described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.